During the Civil War, a farmer from Mississippi named Newton Knight came to the admirable conclusion that the Confederacy was stupid and not worth dying for, so he deserted the army and ran off to form the so-called Free State Of Jones, a small community in Jones County, Mississippi. Knight then convinced his neighbors and some escaped slaves to help him defend the land, and he formed an army of guerrilla fighters called Knight Company that fought off any Confederate officials who found themselves in Jones County. He even married a former slave, despite interracial marriage being illegal in Mississippi at the time.

Also, and this may be the most important part, the photo of him on Wikipedia looks a lot like Matthew McConaughey, and now McConaughey is starring in a movie about Knight called Free State Of Jones which you can see a trailer for up above. It’s like history coming alive! Of course, the actual story of Newton Knight may not have featured so many action movie-style shootouts, but if there’s one thing history needs, it’s more action movie-style shootouts. Seriously, there’s a part where some guys pop out of a coffin and start shooting at Confederate jerks. How many times did that happen in history? Not nearly enough times.

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Free State Of Jones was directed by Gary Ross and will be in theaters on May 13, 2016.